T-80 AP rounds fired at me!

[Buznee]

This frustrates me. I'm playing the second mission of the Georgian Oil Campaign, I cleared out the southern tank division (or so I thought) I cruise along forward and my RWR goes off letting me know something is locking on to me just ahead, I do an abrupt turn to get out of range and right as I initate the turn, I get blown out of the sky by a T-80 AP round. Can those tanks really fire a round at a helicopter? They have ways of calculating round trajectory for airborne targets? What are ways to reduce the likeliness of this scenerio from occuring?

[Mugenjin]

modern mbt's are in fact able to do that.

 

to avoid being blown out of the sky, consider the very limited elevation of the tank's main gun.

[159th_Viper]

....What are ways to reduce the likeliness of this scenerio from occuring?

 

Why are you so close to a MBT? :)

 

 

...Can those tanks really fire a round at a helicopter?...

 

Hell Yeah - As Lynx Pilots In Af-Stan can Vouch for ;)

[sobek]

to avoid being blown out of the sky, consider the very limited elevation of the tank's main gun.

 

It can still reach out and touch you with it's commander mg, although it has limited range. Also when you're above the tank, you're gonna have a hard time engaging it. Keep outside a 3-4km circle around armor and pick them out with your vikhrs, that's what they are there for.

[Buznee]

Well the whole deal was that I thought I picked them all out and must have not spotted one behind some trees or somethin. So basically my issue is spotting targets. Do you guys do a thorough scan and how do you deal with vegetation if the target might be behind it. Do you fly up higher to get ontop of it? Do you find another angle? Or do you have the wingman do the recon for you? :)

[Speed_2]

Well, I carefully look back and forth with trackIR on full zoom (the / and * keys on the numpad). That's how I scan for targets. The Shkval really has too narrow of a FOV, you need to use the Mk 1 eyeball.

[159th_Viper]

What Speed 2 said - Head on a Swivel, M8, Head on a Swivel!

 

Point is, If you see the Launch, you have Time to Avoid the Launch :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Guess who was'nt Looking....:music_whistling:

[Chizzy101]

Guess who was'nt Looking....:music_whistling:

 

Haha, great series of photos there Viper!

 

A couple of things I do when scouting out an area in addition to what's been mentioned...

 

1. If you have a wingman, send him in for a recce. That way, if he does take fire, you can usually spot it and take it out

 

2. Gain a bit of altitude. Obviously this depends on the threats around, but if it's safe, I find it easier to spot targets if I'm flying high.

 

I used to get taken out by MBT main gun rounds quite a bit, now I keep my distance and don't have so many problems. Also, if you fly so that you present the tank with a tracking target, you'll be less likely to get hit if a tank does fire at you.

[Topgun505]

If someone is firing ballistic weapons at you (MBT gun, machine guns, etc) at you, you have an advantage being in a helicopter. You have all 3 dimensions in which you can travel which you can use to foil the firing solution of an attacker. Mess up his aim in nearly any one of these dimensions and he is likely to miss. Mess with multiple axis at the same time and he's nearly guaranteed to miss (unless you are right on top of him).

 

So if you see some tracers headed your way, or you get a LWS warning and you know it is likely MBTs which is lighting you up then you need to do a few things.

 

- If you are attacking a target and actively guiding a weapon to it, unless the missile is only a second away from impact then ABORT THE ATTACK. You generally do not have time to continue with the attack at this point unless you want to be walking home.

 

- Change your direction of travel. I would say at least a 45 degree change in direction. But do NOT travel directly away from the target. You want to present a crossing aspect to your target.

 

- Change your altitude. If you are more than 50m AGL then chop your collective to suddenly drop some alt. If you are already down in the weeds then add some collective to climb up (but be careful not to climb too high and unmask and end up exposing yourself to additional attackers that are lurking in the area). Every few seconds change your alt. Dip down 20-40m ... then after a brief bit climb back up. Repeat.

 

- Change your speed. Preferably the faster the better so that you're heading away from your target (again, at an angle) in order to get out of its effective range asap.

 

With all of these you are complicating his calculations for range to target, bearing to target, elevation, and you are accelerating ... and all of these variables are changing every few seconds because of your maneuvering. By modifying all these variables you will be throwing off the firing solution in the attackers fire control computer and he will likely end up firing where you WERE, and not where you ARE. That's the key. If he misses in any one of those dimensions, then chances are he's going to miss ... so the more dimensions you screw with ... the harder you make it for him.

 

The key here is to identify quickly that you are under attack, where the attack is coming from, and reacting quickly.

Edited January 17, 2010 by Topgun505

[EtherealN]

It also helps to sometimes think like a tank commander. If you were in one of those tanks, and knew you might have attack helicopters sent your way, where would you want to be? Look there. Is there any blind spots in your recon? Get a new angle and check that out.

 

And really - do not overfly a target area even if you think you've killed all targets. There's always a risk of a Vulcan or Shilka hidden in the woods, or some guy on his lonesome with a stinger. Recon the adjoining areas and fly around.

 

And ALWAYS have an escape plan. When flying you should keep your head swiveling to search for launches, and while doing so decide on possible hiding places. It doesn't do any good to spot a big threat and then start looking for a place to hide - you need to be able to immediately be "engaged defensive" and quickly frustrate the opponent's aim and at the end of the maneuver be either terrain masked or simply outside the opponent's engagement envelope.

[sweinhart3]

This is probably the one area I have to cheat. I often have zero luck spotting enemies unless they r out in the open. I also find it almost impossible to know friendly/enemy if they are near each other so i use labels. Thats the one cheat I use cause i suck as it is and its challenge enough for me to just not die.

[Duke49th]

What are ways to reduce the likeliness of this scenerio from occuring?

 

Keep your speed above 80-100 Km/h or keep your distance more then 3-4 km. ;)

 

But even if your speed is higher then 100 km/h keep in mind that they still target and probably can shoot you if your angle is too low e.g. when you heading directly to the target or away from it.

 

As soon as you get an LWS (not RWR:))warning you are too close to what ever enemy ;)